Gender ideology pushed on Scottish school children

Eleven-year-olds at one of Scotland’s top state schools are being told that they are “queer” if they do not know their ‘sexual orientation’.

Pupils at Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh, which ranked sixth last year, have been taught that there are three biological sexes and that they can be pansexual if they are attracted to two or more genders. Children were also told to refer to one another as “they” if they are uncertain of their ‘gender identity’.

One parent called it “nonsense”, saying “we should not be teaching children that ideological statements are fact”.

Gender ideology

At Wick High School in Caithness, a “gender neutral language guide” tells staff to avoid terms such as mother, brother or sister that might upset trans pupils.

The school received LGBT Youth Scotland’s ‘Silver Charter’ status for a “variety of work” including its language guide, LGBT awareness training and for raising funds for the controversial group.

Trina Budge, Director of For Women Scotland, called it “disgraceful that valuable time is being spent trying to instil compelled speech and push activists’ unscientific, inaccurate information about gender identity theory”.

Cause confusion

The rshp.scot webiste, a bank of resources created to support the teaching of Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood in Scottish schools, is promoting a podcast about a three-year-old boy whose mother allows him to live as a girl.

‘How to Be a Girl’ claims the only person who gets to decide whether they are a girl is the child themselves.

The same lesson plan suggests schools point parents towards the controversial Sandyford Clinic, Scotland’s equivalent of the soon to close Gender Identity Service in London. The NHS trust which runs the Sandyford Clinic led the commissioning of rshp.scot.

But Carolyn Brown, the former Depute Principal Educational Psychologist for Fife Council, warned: “Children will identify as cats or dogs, pirates or train drivers. It’s part of their fantasy world and part of their development. We should be careful not to interpret fantasy literally.”

Evidence ignored

In 2021, the Scottish Government issued guidance telling schools to always “be affirming” and that parents should not always be told if their child is being socially transitioned at school.

It has ignored the evidence from England suggesting that an exclusively “affirming” approach could be harmful to children.